Good guys and bad guys are everywhere. Cops and robbers. Cowboys and Indians. Death Stars and Millennium Falcons. Batman and The Joker. Communism versus capitalism. Heroes and villans. Some are portrayed as real, others as fictional concepts and characters. No big deal, right?
Except when it comes to the Bible. Critics have a hard enough time swallowing the concept of a creator, but a devil too? Such a character is obviously a relic of mythology and fairy tales that somehow clings to life in the modern world, his existence swallowed hook, line and sinker by the gullible and uneducated masses.
But the enlightened among us view the very concept of a real devil as ridiculous, right? As an allegorical figure representing the concept of bad, okay. But a real, living creature named Satan? That’s a bit much.
It’s definitely a point to ponder if we can accept the existence of opposing forces in all kinds of situations, real and fictional, but not in this one. Is prejudice causing a blind spot?
Granted, so-called Christians don’t exactly help the situation. For starters you have the traditional depictions of Satan like the one shown here. Horns and pitchfork don’t exactly scream “Reality!!!” Then, to be perfectly honest, the very people who believe in Satan hardly ever blame him for anything. Let a drunk driver wipe out a whole family and it’s God’s doing, never Satan’s. The reason for the wreck? “God wanted them in heaven.” When a soggy mountainside buries the village below in an epic mudslide, no one ever blames Satan, and why would they? That would be irrational. But plenty of people will definitely give God the blame/credit. “God works in mysterious ways,” or “Everything happens for a reason,” or “I guess it was just their time.” For such people it’s never a simple combination of rain, gravity, and poor building site choices. It’s all part of God’s master plan; he just used those forces as his tools. No wonder so many people don’t believe in God! As so often depicted by so many, he sure is one cruel and arbitrary executioner. Evolution is a much kinder, more benevolent force, and it rarely shows the kind of arbitrary malevolence people regularly attribute to God.
What got me thinking about all of this was the recent death of Westboro Baptist Church hate-monger Fred Phelps. I can’t imagine why thinking about him would make me think of Satan incarnate, but it just did. Anyway, that led to thinking about how the Bible describes Satan: he’s such an evil genius he actually invented the lie.
Even if you would never believe in a real devil in a million years, consider for a moment the ramifications if he is real: what a brilliant plan to get the most reprehensible people around – slimy, greedy televangelists and hate-spewing bigots, for instance – to represent your enemy, God! Genius! Throw your support behind churches who teach God is a cruel, capricious killer who may just decide to pluck some sweet, innocent school teacher off the face of the earth to take them to a “better place,” oh, and maybe use a drunk driver to do it. Another great strategy: while putting the blame on God for everything from cancer to murders, foster the idea that you don’t even exist. Brilliant!
Yes, there is evil in the movies, in novels, even in cartoons. Plots nearly always contain a good guy and a bad guy. Real life is no different. I wonder how many people who believe in evolution have done so because they’ve accepted the false and misleading propaganda about the creator?